


I Just Work Here

by youngavengerfeels



Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Captain America Steve Rogers/Modern Bucky Barnes, First Meetings, M/M, Modern Bucky Barnes, bucky hates his job
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-10
Updated: 2017-03-10
Packaged: 2018-10-02 03:57:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10209104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youngavengerfeels/pseuds/youngavengerfeels
Summary: Out in the middle of the desert, where it's hot as hell and there is absolutely no reason for anyone to be, there is a little gas station that acts as Bucky's own personal hell. At least the Captain America look a like that comes in every so often makes things a little more tolerable.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Do you ever start to write something expecting one thing only to have it go an a totally different direction? That's what happened here. I kind of like this concept but I'm not super sure how I feel about the end result. Let me know what you think!

God Bucky hated his job. Really he hated everything about his life. He lived in the middle of buttfuck nowhere, nothing around but miles and miles of desert. There were like thirty people clustered together. They didn't even qualify as a town that's how shitty this hellhole was. The few children that did live there were all sent to boarding school because there sure as hell weren't any schools within a 100 miles. 

Bucky had come this this shit stain about a year ago desperate to get away from his old life when it all went sour. If he had known he would literally be moving to limbo he would have just stayed in New York and dealt with his shit. Now it was too late for him. Now he lived in what could barely be considered a shack and had the shittiest job he had ever had. 

There was only one gas station in this hell hole. Not for the convenience of the people who lived here but for the highway that went right past their little shitstain. Bucky had always wondered which came first; the ghost town or the gas station. Either way Bucky was stuck manning the 24 hour gas station on the night shift. The night shift was considerably less busy than the day, but still had a fair amount of traffic. They were the only rest stop between two decently sized cities which meant a lot of people wanted to use the restroom. 

Most people would just come in and do their business without ever acknowledging Bucky was there. Bucky didn't blame them a lot of the time he wondered if he was even there to begin with. As far as the people passing through were concerned Bucky may has well been part of the building. Even those few people stocking up on obscene amounts of caffeine who actually interacted with Bucky never really saw him. 

At this point Bucky was immune to any and all weird shit. He had thought living in New York, even living through the battle of New York would have meant he'd seen everything but oh boy was he wrong. In New York he wouldn't have bat an eye at Spider- Man swinging over him, just grumbled about him being a menace like everyone else around him. At the moment he was watching what looked like a ritual sacrifice of a bag of Cheetos and a box of stale donut holes. If these guys weren't high as hell their God sure was. He probably should tell the guys to knock it the hell off but he knew they would just move it to the parking lot and it was much easier to just mop up the mess than have to pull out the hose to clean the parking lot. 

The changing had just started to burn itself into Bucky’s brain when the bell over the door let him know someone else wanted to use the restroom. Bucky paid the new patron no mind instead counting the water stains on the ceiling.

“It's 2am do you think they would do their chanting more quaintly?” A deep voice said jogging Bucky out of his zoning out. The man was wearing a pretty realistic Captain America costume. There must be a comic con going on somewhere which meant all the weirdos would be out. This guy was the most realistic Captain America he had ever seen. The suit looked as expensive as hell, but it was also almost completely trashed. There were rips all over the place and there was what looked like blood stains. 

“You get used to it after awhile. Might as well be white noise,” Bucky said blandly as he reach over to check the guy’s purchases. The first aid kit made Bucky pause for a second because was this guy really injured? 

“I’ll take your word for it,” the guy said in an amused, if not a little pinched tone. 

“Uh, do you need some help?” Bucky asked because honestly he couldn’t tell if the guy was really injured or just really good at makeup. The guy waved him off though. 

“I’m fine just stopping in for supplies,” he said throwing some money on the counter. Not waiting for Bucky to make his change the guy grabbed the first aid kit and other supplies and abruptly turned to leave. 

“Nice costume by the way. Super realistic,’ Bucky called after him. The guy turned and gave Bucky a smile that made Bucky’s breath catch because he was a 15 year girl. Then the doors slid shut leaving Bucky alone with a cult ritual going on in the background. 

A few weeks passed uneventfully. Well the rest of the world had plenty of event, just none of them happened anywhere near Bucky. The world had nearly ended no less than three times and the most exciting that happened to Bucky was the gas station finally replaced the light in the men’s restroom so it didn’t look as much like the scene of a horror movie. 

It was a slow night, Bucky had only seen maybe two people, which was the worst. At least when the place was busy his shifts went by faster. He couldn’t even play on his phone because the gas station didn’t have wifi and of course Bucky’s cell reception was shit. So he was forced to suffer, reorganizing all of the merchandise out of sheer boredom. 

The little bell over the door chimed making Bucky’s head whip up. Not wanting to look like a total loser Bucky tried to play it off that he needed to check something in that general area. The guy who walked through the door looked boringly plain. Even though the guy couldn’t be older than Bucky he was wearing old man clothes. He must have taken Macklemore seriously on the whole wearing your grandad clothes thing. Although the guy would look pretty good with a Macklemore haircut as cliche as that was. 

The more Bucky stared at the guy the more he felt like he had seen him before, which was weird because normally the only people saw more than once were the few locals. Bucky felt like a creeper just staring at the guy, but he swore to god he had seen the guy somewhere. The guy must be able to feel Bucky staring at him because he kept glancing over at Bucky. It wasn’t until the guy came to the counter and Bucky was able to get a good look at him, that he was able to place where he had seen the guy before.

“Oh! You’re the Captain America cosplayer,” Bucky said making a popping noise on the ‘oh.’ The guy gave him a weird look. “Sorry, we don’t normally get repeat customers so it's weird seeing someone a second time.” The guy was still giving Bucky a weird look which made Bucky seriously regret saying anything at all. 

“My name’s Steve,” Steve said finally and thank fuck he was chill because really Bucky didn’t need a pissy customer. Bucky still shuddered at the memory of the time a pack of  soccer moms and their demon spawn had stopped by on their way home from a tournament. Although Bucky was a little disappointed to be given a fake name. 

“Bucky, and yes that's my real name,” Bucky said jumping the gun answering the question that always came. The guy's mouth quirked in a little smile. 

“Normally people a little more excited to meet me,” Steve said sheepishly.

“Oh yeah, I bet the kids go crazy for you. Probably not as much as for Iron Man but the guy is a billionaire,” Bucky said with a shrug. The guy snorted. 

“So what’s it like living in a place time this?” Steve asked, shrugging his shoulders and gesturing at the gas station.

“I don’t live in the gas station you know. It’s not like being a teacher where they lock you in the school at night,” Bucky said with a toothy grin. Steve rolled his eyes in an exaggerated motion and laughed. “No, but really it makes me miss Brooklyn a whole hell of a lot,” Bucky admitted.  

“I’m from Brooklyn too,” Steve said in such an excited way you would have thought they were long lost friends not just two strangers who happened to be from the same (highly populated) place. 

“You’re kind of far from home,” Bucky said going back to scanning the man’s items because he was a professional. 

“Well I was out here on business, decided to take the scenic route home. I’m glad I did,” Steve said clearly checking Bucky out. 

It didn’t even faze Bucky. Even though grunge died in the 90s it was alive and well in Bucky’s aesthetic and apparently people were into that because he got hit on all of the time at the gas station. If every who hit on him looked like Steve he might not care as much. Holy hell Steve was fine. If it wasn’t completely ridiculous Bucky would have thought he was the real Captain America and wouldn’t that be something, getting hit on by Captain America at 2am.That was something to write home about right there. 

“Hopefully the view is alright,” Bucky said.

“It's one I’d certainly appreciate seeing again.” Steve said with a smile that must have all the girls and boys falling at his feet, Bucky included. Given the chance he would totally jump Steve’s bones. Which is why Bucky is kind of devastated when he finished checking the guy out. Bucky handed him his bag and receipt reluctantly.

“It was nice meeting you officially Bucky. I have some work coming out here soon so maybe I’ll see you again,” Steve said almost as reluctantly as Bucky felt. 

“I’ll hold you to that,” Bucky said. As Steve walked out a couple of charter buses rolled up and Bucky groaned knowing the place was about to get trashed.  

Bucky saw Steve again a few times in the next couple weeks. The gas station was literally in the middle of nowhere so it wasn’t necessarily convenient to get to which meant Steve had to travel a lot. Bucky couldn't help but he grateful for that because seeing Steve walk into the gas station always improved Bucky’s night by 100%. 

Bucky watched the teenagers come into the store with disinterest. They were probably in some soul searching road trip or some equally lame bullshit. They looked a little off though, like they were trying too hard to be casual. Before Bucky could analysis too much the biggest one pulled a gun out and that exactly what Bucky needed right now. 

“Everything in the bag,” he said shoving a bag at Bucky. The kid’s hand was shaking so bad Bucky wasn't able to actually grab it. 

“Come on guy. You clearly don't know what you're doing and I really don't want to deal with writing up an incident report. Why don't we all just forget this ever happened?” Bucky Said because honestly he was already dead inside and having to deal with filing a police report was way more than he wanted to deal with. 

“Shit the fuck up and put the money in the bag,” another teen said pulling out another gun. Bucky managed to hold in a groan as he opened the cash registered. He wondered if the day shift ever had to deal with this shit or if it was just reserved for him. 

“Son, you're gonna want to put those guns down,” a deep voice that was surprisingly familiar. Bucky looked up from the cash register to see Steve standing in the doorway. He was back in full Captain America attire, which Bucky couldn't help roll his eyes at. It would not surprise Bucky at all for Steve to play the hero. He would probably get himself shot. 

“Oh shit! It's Captain America,” one of the teens said. Bucky had to admit Steve made a pretty convincing Cap, but why the fuck would Captain America be in the middle of satan’s armpit of a gas station dealing with teens clearly making their first robbery attempt. It was pretty small time stuff. 

“I didn't sign up for this,” another teen said. 

On of the teens with a gun panicked and there was a loud bang and suddenly Bucky was in a lot more pain than he wanted to be in. He looked down at his left arm knowing logically there would be a lot of blood because holy shit he just got shot, but still actually seeing the blood was another story. He wasn’t too proud of passing out in front of unfairly hot Steve, but at least he could feel anything passed out. 

Bucky came back to himself slowly. His arm felt numb which tipped Bucky off to the fact that he was on a shit ton of pain killers. 

“Hey,”

“You really shouldn't have done that, you could have gotten hurt,” Bucky said because as bad he was going to feel when these painkillers wore off, he still would have felt worse if Steve had gotten hurt. Steve looked at him like he was stupid.

“I mean I doubt a couple of teens could bring down Captain America. It would be kind of embarrassing for all of the super villains who have tried if they did though,” Steve smiled like he had made a joke. 

“You are so dedicated. You know I'm not a child, I know you're not Captain America,” Bucky said slightly annoyed. 

“But I am Captain America,” Steve said frowning. “Are you sure you're ok?” 

“I know you're ‘captain america’ but like not really you just dress like him for comic con and kids birthday parties and shit. Steve isn't even your real name,” Bucky said. Maybe cosplays but was like Disneyland where they weren't allowed to break character? Was someone going to pop out and assassinate Steve if he admitted she wasn't really Captain America. Bucky had read a buzzfeed article about that happening to a girl playing Elsa at DisneyWorld. 

“Bucky, I really am Captain America. I have the shield in everything,” Steve said a little helplessly, gesturing toward the corner of the room where his shield was propped up. Bucky had to admit it was the most realistic shield he had ever seen.

“I can buy one of those at Wal-Mart, well I could if the hell hole I lived in had one of those.” God, Bucky needed to get out of there.

“Say something only Steve Rogers would say,” Bucky said not as if he finally had Steve on the ropes. Steve for his part looked flustered, like he didn't know what to say which kind of just proved Bucky’s point. 

“Truth, justice, and the American way,” Steve said in the Captain America voice that was so close to perfect. 

“That’s just propaganda bullshit. Say something old timey” Bucky said. If Steve was still around later to make fun of Bucky of how stupid he sounded he was totally blaming the painkillers. 

“Well golly doll, you’re gonna give me a bum rap with you accusing me like that,” Steve said as sarcastically one could while sounding completely ridiculous. 

“Oh my fucking god, you really are Steve Rogers,” Bucky said 

“Bad 40’s slang is what convinced you?” Steve said like he was regretting his life choices. 

“Yes. Now give me a fucking second to process the fact that I have been hitting on Captain America. I’m pretty sure there’s a law against that: don't desecrate national treasures and all that,” Bucky said. 

“I think that only applied if I’m not flirting back,” Steve said grinning. Bucky wished Steve was close to him so he could kiss him because he really wanted to kiss him. Maybe Steve would even let him when he wasn’t high as hell. 

“Wait a second, the AVengers are based in New York, why the fuck were you out here so often?” Bucky asked thinking clearly enough to realize something was weird. Steve blushed and looked away. 

“I may have made a few extra trips out here for no particular reason,” Steve mumbled still not looking at Bucky who couldn’t help but smirk. Steve had it so bad for him. It was kind of awesome. 

“So are we going to make out or what?” Bucky asked, he could blame his impatience on the drugs too, but honestly this had to be a dream because there was no way this was happening to him. 

He was just some homeless looking man working at a gas station, and here he was in a hospital with Steve Rogers. Steve didn’t seem to take offensive to Bucky’s brashness because he just leaned over Bucky and gently kissed him. Bucky brought up his hand to cup Steve;s face to deepen the kiss and honest to go it was the best kiss of Bucky’s life. He would totally get shot again to get to keep kissing Steve. 

“How about we kiss without you getting shot?” Steve said because apparently Bucky wa sa moron and stopped kissing Steve to say that out loud. 

“You drive a hard bargain but I think I can live with that,” Bucky said pulling Steve in for another kiss. 

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly wrote this on my phone and then didn't go over it. So sorry if this is unreadable


End file.
